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EULOGY 



ON THE 



CHARACTER AND SERVICES ^% 



OF THE I.ATK 



DANIEL WEBSTER, 



PRONOUXCED AT THE REQUEST OF THE 



IHnt nnii Cnimnnii Cnunriki nf \\}t (t^itij nf ^^^Ijilahljijiin, 



JANUARY 18, 1853, 



BY WILLIAM H. ALLEN, L L. D., 

// 



PRESIDENT OF THE GIR.VRD COLLEGE FOR ORPHANS. 



-♦♦- 



PHILADELPHIA: 

CKISSY i MARKLEY, PRINTERS, GOtDSMTTIIS HALL, LIBRARY STREET. 

1853. 






IN EXCHANOE 

JAN 5 - 1915 



EXTRACT 



FKO.M THE 



a-oxjii.3xr-A.iji oiB' ooxti^oxxjS- 



Thursday, November 4, 1852. 

Mr. roulson offered the following resolutions: — 

Whereas, The principles and opinions which Daniel Webster so nobly 
advocated and sustained throughout hia eventful life, according to his own 
words, are essential to the preservation of the Union, the maintenance of the 
Constitution, and the advancement of the country to the highest stages of 
prosperity and renown: — and these objects have constituted his Pole-star 
during the whole of his political career, which extended through more than 
half the period of the existence of the government, and 

Whereas, When in the dispensations of His Providence, it is tlie Avill of tlie 
Almighty Ptuler of the Universe to withdi-aw, by death, from amongst us, 
and from amidst his career of usefulness, such a man, such a friend, such a 
gifted lover of his countr3% as Daniel Webster, we cannot but severely feel j 
and deeply deplore the event as a national affliction : it becomes us to bow 
in reverential and prayerful submission before Him who gave, and who hath 
taken away : and 

Whereas, In the character and services of Daniel Webster, as a Statesman, 
and as a Patriot, the people of this country have examples of pure devotion 
to the public good at home, and of the just preservation of the dignity and 
honor of his country abroad, — examples, to be cherished and imitated ;— and 



4 

although the bitterness of grief be upon us for his loss, yet the memory of 
his deeds will be the more deeply enehrined, and live in brightness in the 
hearts of his countrymen — encouraging, sustaining, the determination never 
to depart from those glorious precepts he inculcated and practised alike with 
the great fathers of this republic, Washington and his associates, — and never 
forget the lessons taught by such wisdom and experience : 

Therefore, Entertaining these sentiments and feelings, the Select and Com- 
mon Councils of the City of Philadelphia, do 

Resolve, 

First, That it is expedient and proper, in further testimony of their respect 
and veneration of the character and services of Daniel Webster, the great 
expounder of our National Constitution, and the advocate of those principles 
of government which have secured the unexampled prosperity and happiness 
of our beloved country, — that, a day be assigned wherein we will devote our 
minds to the contemplation of the life and labors of Daniel Webster — a bless- 
ing to the people — to Daniel Webster's death — a nation's loss ; — and they 
further 

Resolve, That a Joint Special Committee, consisting of two members from 
each Council, be appointed, who arc hereby authorized to fix the day for the 
purpose set forth in the foregoing resolution : to iuN-ite a citizen to pronounce 
on that day, an oration on the character and services of the late Daniel 
Webster ; and to make such further arrangements as may be deemed suitable 
and proper in order to effect the objects and purposes of these proceedings. 

WTiich were read twice and passed. 

The aliove prcamlilc and resolutions were unanimously adopted at a meet- 
ing of Select and Common Councils, held on the -Ith day of November, A. D. 
1852, and the following .loint Special Committee appointed in accordance 
therewith: Charles A. Poulson, Chairman, Samuel V\. t; !'>.l ill. Albert G. 
Waterman, and .Tusofdi M. Thomas. 

(Attest) CUAIG DIDDLE, 

Clerl- '■'■ '^-'mmon Council. 



COMMITTKE ROOM, CITY HALL., 

Novcmlier 26tli, 1853. 

WiiLiAM H. Allen, Esq. 

Dear Sir: — The undersigned on behalf of a Joint Special Committee 
appointed in pursuance of certain proceedings in Select and Common Coun- 
cils of the City of Philadelphia, in relation to the death of the lamented 
Daniel Webster, — a copy of which, contained in a poi-tion of their Journal is 
herewith enclosed, — respectfully take the liberty of waiting on you, to ex- 
press their desii-e, that it may be convenient and agreeable to you to pro- 
nounce the eulogy suggested therein, on the character and services of that 
eminent statesman and benefactor. 

We have the honor to be, 
Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

CHARLES A. POULSON, 
A. G. WATERMAN, 

Sub Committee, ^c. 



Girard College, November ^9, 185». 

Gentlemen : — Though deeply conscious that I am not equal to the honor- 
able duty which you have assigned me, I am constrained by a sense of my 
obligations to yourselves and to the Select and Common Councils which yo\i 
represent, to comply with the request which you have so courteously made. 

I have the honor to remain, 

Most truly and respectfully, yours, 

WILLIAM II. ALLEN. 
To Messrs. Charles A. Poulson, 
A. G. Waterman, 

Suh-Committee of Arrangementg. 



Committe* Room, Jauuary 20, 1853. 

William H. Allen, Esq. 

Dear Sik : — The undersigned, a Special Committee appointed by Select 
and Common Councils in furtherance of the objects of a preamble and reso- 
lutions passed by Councils on the 4th of "November last ; have peculiar gra- 
tification in requesting from you a copy of the eloquent and appropriate 
Eulogium, illustrative of the life and character of the lamented Daniel 
Webster, pronounced by you before Councils, and a large assemblage of our 
fellow-citizens, on Tuesday, the 18th inst., at the Musical Fund Hall. 

The Committee desire to see this eulogy preserved in a permanent form, 
and especially because an opfjortunity ■will thus be presented to all of par- 
ticipating in the pleasure and advantage which was enjoyed by those who 
were present at its oral enunciation. 

We have the honor to be, 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servants, 

CIIAS. A. POULSON, Chairman. 
A. G. WATERMAN, 
SAMUIjJL J. RANDALL, 
.JOSEPH M. THOM.\S, 
^prcial Committee of Select and Common Councils. 



EULOGY. 



« < » • » 



The exit of an unusual number of illustrious men, 
both at home and abroad, has given a mournful inter- 
est to the past year. It was observed long ago, that 
there are periods of peculiar brilliancy in history, 
when many distinguished men cluster together ; and 
it would seem that there are also periods of gloom, 
when the great depart together. In 1832 many bright 
hghts of literature and science went out — Goethe, 
Spurzheim, Cuvier, Champolion, Crabbe, Walter Scott, 
Jeremy Bentham and Adam Clarke ; and now, at the 
close of a cycle of twenty years, death has again 
aimed at shining marks, and has selected this time a 
constellation of statesmen. Amonix these, Wellino-ton, 
Clay, Webster, and Philadelphia's loved and honored 
Sergeant, stand forth as names of mark — historical 
men — who have done much to shape the destiny of 



8 

nations. And as we saw these stars one after another 
melt into the light of a brighter hemisphere, until our 
firmament grew dark, we sadly asked, 

'• When shall retuiu 
Such lustre to the coining years?" 

We are here, on the birth-day of one of these men, 
to commemorate his life and to mourn his death. 
Though Daniel Webster only passed the limit of three 
score years and ten, we shall find, if we measure his 
life by the changes which took place in the world 
during its term, or by the growth of this country, or 
by his own public services, that he lived longer than 
the patriarchs. Born near the close of our revolution- 
ary struggle ; nurtured while the fathers of the Repub- 
lic were laying the foundations of its prosperity in 
national union ; educated during the first trial of the 
experiment of the new government ; called to public 
life during the second war of independence ; holding 
high posts of duty in seasons of uncommon difficulty 
and danger, and devoting his ripest powers to the 
defence of the Constitution and Union, he lived long 
enough to finish his work, long enough for fame, though 
not for our hopes, and died a great and not untimely 
death. While we mourn fi)r him as for a father on 
whose strength we have leaned, and to \\hose coun- 
sels we have listened, we rejoice in the fruition of his 



labors, we glory in the fullness of his fame, and we 
are proud that the country which produced such a 
man is our country. 

We are here, under the auspices of the municipal 
o-overnment of a city, consecrated by so many recol- 
lections of our heroic age, that it has become to the 
American people the Mecca of their patriotic worship. 
The Continental Congress, the Declaration, Independ- 
ence Hall, the Old Bell, the Convention, the Constitu- 
tion, Morris, Reed, Franklin, Washington, all stand 
around us, and in their august presence, with their 
memory and their spirit brooding over us, we are to 
contemplate the life and services of a statesman who 
has done much to perpetuate the liberty which was 
here proclaimed, to preserve the Union which was 
here established, and to give dignity at home and 
influence abroad to the government which was here 
formed. 

Few men were ever welcomed to this city with 
more sincere respect, or more generous admiration 
than Daniel Webster. When he stood among us in 
clear light, " Os^ humerosrjue Deo similis,''' you all 
know how warmly he was greeted. And when his 
voice, sonorous and flexible, was heard from platform, 
balcony, or banquet hall, in language to which his 
deep, dark eyes, whose glance could fascinate or 
wither, gave prophetic force, you well remember how. 



10 

with suppressed breath and eager ears, we hung upon 
his lips ; and how, at the close of some sentence bi^ 
with thought, we sat spell-bound, and forgot to 
applaud. And now, when that eloquent voice is 
hushed forever ; and those eyes, 

"Which have been piercing as the mid-day sun 
To search the secret treasons of the world, 
Are dimmed with death's black veU;" 

and that Atlas form, weary with the weight of public 
cares, lies mouldering to dust ; and that mind, which 
seemed too vast even for the vast dome it dwelt in, has 
returned to God who gave it ; there is no part of our 
country, except his adopted Boston, where his memory 
is more cherished, or his death more lamented, than 
in Philadelphia. 

History informs us, that among some of the nations 
of anti(j[uity, it was the custom, when a great man 
died, to hold an inquest upon his character ; and if the 
verdict were favorable, his remains were embalmed 
with much care and cost, and a solenm eulogy was 
pronounced at his funeral. 

We are not here to-day to hold the inquest, but to 
unite our voices with the hundreds that have already 
pronounced the culogium. The verdict of the contem- 
poraries of Daniol Webster has been agreed upon, 
and submitted to the court. The members of the pro- 



11 

fession of which he was the acknowledged head, have 
pronounced it. The statesmen of our country, among 
whom he moved primus inter pares, have pronounced 
it. His pohtical opponents, with a magnanimity 
which softens the hard thoughts and hard words of 
party strife, have pronounced it. Scholars and stu- 
dents of history, who have compared Webster with 
the masters of ancient and modern eloquence, with 
Demosthenes and Cicero, with Pitt, Fox and Burke, 
have pronounced it. The pulpit, unscduced by the 
brilliant and specious, and looking sternly beneath the 
exterior of public and private character at motives 
and principles, has pronounced it. And the united 
voice of the nation, striving to give utterance to the 
sentiments of its great heart, all alive with fresh recol- 
lections of its benefactor's arduous and unrequited 
labors, has pronounced it. Daniel Webster ivas a great 
lawyer, a great orator, a great statesman, a great man. 
What a verdict ! from what a jury ! 

This verdict has been so nearly unanimous, that it 
will go up with authority to the tribunal of history — 
that high court of appeal which is to review the 
record, and by which we doubt not that the judgment 
of the present age will be affirmed. 

What then remains for the present speaker to do ? 
W^hilc reading the addresses which have been already 
delivered on Mr. Webster, in number beyond all for- 



13 

mcr example, in ability unsurpassed by any composi- 
tions of their class in our language, I have shrunk 
from the honorable duty which the Select and Com- 
mon Councils have assigned me, so painful has been 
my consciousness of inability to do justice to the great 
theme. I can add nothing to the reputation of our 
departed statesman, for that is more than local, more 
than national, it is world-wide. I can draw forth 
from forgotten records no new facts to show by what 
culture, in life's spring-time, plants of such pith and 
stature grow ; for all these have been explored, and 
their story is as familiar to you as household words. 
I can place no stone upon the monument which the 
master builder has raised for himself; for as the hands 
of our Zerubbabcl " laid the foundation thereof, so 
liave his hands finished it, and have brought forth the 
headstone, shouting, grace, grace unto it." I can add 
no syllable to the inscription which his own chisel has 
sculptured so deeply on that monument, nor grave a 
single emblem in the blazons of its heraldrv. I need 
not paint again the picture of those home hours, all 
sunshine, all poetry, when the warrior returned from 
battle, and i)ut olT his harness, and wiped the sweat 
from his brow, and shook the dust from his garments ; 
when the sportsman sallied forth with gun or line ; 
when the farmer rambled over his broad meadows, and 
the lowing of his great oxen soothed his chafed spirit ; 



13 

or when he sat under the chn at evening, and hstened 
to the murmur of the sea, and gazed upward at the 
stars, and mused on thoughts deeper than the sea, and 
higher than the stars. They who shared the intimacy 
of his hearthstone have dehneated all these, and have 
made us know Mr. Webster better, and love him 
more than before. Still less need I recapitulate his 
public labors and intellectual achievements ; for he was 
a city set on a hill, and could not be hid. 

"Ye saw his deeds. 
AVhy should their praise in verse be sung ? 
The name that dwells on every tongue 

No minstrel needs." 

What then, the question returns with emphasis, are 
we to do ? We may at least pour out our libation 
upon the tomb of our country's benefactor. We may 
add one note to the grand requiem, which all over 
this land, has bewailed a national bereavement. We 
may mingle our tears once more with those of our 
stricken countrymen, whose full hearts have attested 
the sincerity of the nation's grief. We may pass by 
in solemn procession, and drop one sprig of green 
upon the coffin of the great master, and place one 
flower, though quickly it may fade, in the chaplct of 
his unfading memory. 

It has been said that i^reat men are God's gift. 



14 

They are more than this ; they are God's agents, sent 
to tlie nations for specific objects, and trained up 
under such discipHne as prepares them to accompUsh 
these objects. When we look at the adaptation of 
means to ends, which is so clearly discernible in every 
department of nature, and which points ever and from 
all directions to one great centre — to a presiding and 
providing Intelligence, we cannot believe that the 
movements of human society have been left to the 
guidance of chance. The same God who reigns in 
nature, reigns also in history. It cannot be that the 
Being who has given to the lower orders of animals 
just such organs and instincts as their condition 
requires, and who has guided the planets in their 
courses ever since " the mornino: stars sano- too-ether," 
would permit the highest order of his earthly crea- 
tures to grope blindly on without aim or j)urpose. 
We spurn the philosophy that would make humanity 
the football of accident. We claim for rcasonins: 
man at least as high a place in tiie Divine re- 
gard as unreasoning brutes occupy; and, claiming 
this, we must believe that historical nations have 
their work to perform in the world, and are edu- 
cated for their work ; and that historical men, who 
alone make nations historical, have also their parts 
assigned thom in the grand drama, and are trained for 
their parts. In the Divine Mind the work is antece- 



15 

dent to tlic workman, and in due time the workman 
appears because lie is wanted. 

The work which was maturinsf for Mr. Webster, 
while he was growing up the man for the work, was 
one of the natural and necessary results of our polit- 
ical development. At the time of his birth, Ameri- 
can independence, though not yet formally acknow- 
ledged, had been really achieved. But there was 
another and more difficult task for the patriots af those 
days. The liberty Miiich had been won by a lover, 
was to be wedded to a husband. A thing which men 
worship, fight for, and die for, in its abstract form, was 
to become a living and prolific force, by being con- 
nected with institutions, as the soul is connected with 
the body. And France, so many times set free, to be 
as often again enslaved, may tell how much more diffi- 
cult is the latter than the former. 

The Constitution was adopted by the people under 
the pressure of necessity, and with many misgivings. 
It was foreseen that delicate questions involving state 
rights and federal powers must arise under it, and that 
the complicated machine would not run without fric- 
tion. What was to be done when state interest, pride 
or jealousy, roused by an example of real or fancied 
oppression on the part of the general government, 
should again apply the maxims of the revolution, and 
say, "' Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God ;" 



16 

" Give me liberty, or give ine death ?" What was 
to be done when a State, havinij the command of 
money and physical force, should raise the standard 
of secession, and say, " Liberty first, and Union after- 
wards ?" These questions are vital. On their solu- 
tion, whenever they should arise, was to depend the 
continued existence of the republic. 

What manner of man was required to meet such a 
crisis, and to avert disunion and national suicide ? 

1. A great lawyer was required ; a lawyer who could 
reason from principles, rather than cases; who could 
ascend to the fountain of right and justice, to "that 
law^ whose seat is the bosom of God, and whose voice 
is the harmony of the world ;■' who could pursue the 
streams which tlow from that fountain, as the}' per- 
meate every department of society, and regulate the 
intercourse and define the responsibilities both of indi- 
viduals and nations, lie must also be a constitu- 
tional lawyer; because the true exposition of the the- 
ory of our government was to be made, and the limits 
of national and state sovereignty were to be carefully 
defined. 

2. A great statesman was required : — a man of set- 
tled convictions, not of shifting and temporary expe- 
dients ; a man who could oppose his party if his party 
were wrong, and go hand in hand with political oppo- 
nents when they were ri^ht ; a man who could conqire- 



17 

hend the true ends of government, and discover the 
best means of attaining them. A statesman was re- 
quired whose point of observation should be sufiicicntly 
elevated to bring the entire horizon under his eye; 
above local and sectional prejudices, " knowing no 
North, no South, no East, no West" ; with a mind 
capacious enough to embrace the whole country. 

3. A great orator was required; for among a 
people, led as we are by the authority of our great 
public men, he alone who had the national ear, and 
could meet an opponent in debate, could effectually 
put down a popular heresy. He alone who held the 
key to men's patriotic sympathies, could so marshal 
the recollections of the past, the interests of the pre- 
sent, and the hopes of the future, as to persuade them. 
While the love of personal freedom, that master pas- 
sion of our people, was not to be weakened, patriotism 
was to be strenirthened. The maxims of the revolu- 
tion were not to become obsolete, but another set of 
maxims was to be elevated to an equal seat at their 
side. — '.' Independence and Patriotism'," — " Liberty 
AND Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." 
Only a great orator could do this. 

4. A great man was required. A man of large 
head and large heart, pursuing noble ends by noble 
means, whom neither hope nor fear, praise nor censure, 
friendship nor hatred might seduce from duty and 



18 

steadfast right; for only such a man could hold, or would 
deserve to hold the confidence of the people. A man 
was wanted to whose skill the nation midit trust the 
most delicate and momentous questions, and thuik 
that nothing was too hard for him to solve; and even 
while the winds were hijrh, and the waves were break- 
ing over the deck, and the rocks were under the lee, 
could rest secure, and believe 

"Nil dcsperandum, Teucro duce, et auspice Teucro." 

This sketch, rude and imperfect though it be, is not 
an untruthful outline of Daniel Webster. Where are 
we to look for him, and how is he to be trained for 
his vocation ? 

Such men do not spring forth full grown and armed 
from the brain of Olympian Jove. They grow slowly 
by nurture and culture. Accident does not produce 
them ; occasions do not ; nor are occasions made for 
them, but they for occasions. It is an error, now 
less current than formerly, that fit men are always at 
hand for every emcrijcncy. An emergency may bring 
out wliat there is in a man, but \\\\\ not ])ut anything 
jn him. If men adequate to every crisis are always 
at hand, why were not the uprisings of the oppressed 
inhabitants of l'An*ope, in 1848, conducted with mode- 
ration and wisdom to the desired issue of liberty ? 
If the want of great men will make <hom spring up 



19 

from the ground^likc the fabled crop of soldiers from 
drao-on's teeth, why is their loss regarded as a national 
calamity? And why is the divine threatening so 
terrible when the Prophet declares that " The Lord 
doth take away the stay and the staff, the mighty 
man, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and 
the ancient, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, 
and the eloquent orator ?" ' 

The ancients deified fortune, and made her a posi- 
tive force in human affairs. But now we know that 
the fortunate man is he who knows himself, and 
knowing himself, has the sagacity to discover his 
vocation, and the strength to pursue it wisely and 
well. The man who was growing up to meet the 
crisis about to arise in our history, owed very little to 
fortune. He was born in a small town in New Hamp- 
shire, on what was then the extreme northern boun- 
dary of civilization. His limbs were inured to toil at 
an early age, and he was fed with such food as hard 
labor could extort from a granite soil, — fit nutriment 
of granite men. His father was of the heroic stock 
of the Revolution, a man of stalwart frame and robust 
mind. His mother was of gentler mould, but a woman 
of sterling sense, discriminating and energetic. She 
was the first to discover the brave promise of her son, 
and to predict his future eminence. If all similar 



20 

predictions were as fully justified b^i tlie results, there 
would be no dearth of great men. 

Both parents of Daniel Webster were religious, and 
they trained up their children in the rigid discipline 
of the Puritans. As the boy did not remember the time 
when he was not able to read the Bible, so the man 
could not point to a moment of his life when he did 
not reverence it. 

For two or three months in a year he went to such 
a school as the backwoods of New Hampshire could 
boast of sixty years since ; — a peripatetic school, with 
no Stagyrite at its head. The few books which fell 
in his way he read and remembered ; and the result 
proved how much knowledge can be acquired under 
the most unfavorable auspices, by a mind which 
attracts it from every object, and absorbs it at every 
pore. Master Chase soon surrendered the embryo 
statesman to Master Tappan ; and Master Tappan to 
Preceptor Abbott ; the last a fit Aristotle for such an 
Alexander. At that time many of the youth of Boston 
were sent up to Exeter to prepare for Cambridge, and 
it is said that the coarse apparel and unpolished man- 
ners of the country lad moved the sneers of his high 
bred school-mates from the metropolis. But though 
somewhat abashed at first, he soon outtitripped them 
all in the race of knowledge, and when at the end of 
his second quarter he was promoted to a higher grade. 



21 

his classmates were summoned to bid him adieu, "for," 
said the teacher, "i/om will never see him again." 
After leavinji Exeter he studied awhile with the Rev. 
Samuel Woods, and at the age of fifteen was admitted 
into Dartmouth College, that foster mother of great 
men. 

A tradition used to be current in the New England 
colleges, that Daniel Webster was what is called 
among students a genius ; that is, a lad who reads 
every thing but his text-books, and who knows every 
thing except his lessons. I remember, too, that every 
idle student loved to cite W^ebster to prove how great 
a man such a lad may become. Reasoning from 
example is not always safe, especially when the ex- 
ample happens to be imaginary. I have taken some 
pains to come at the truth of this matter, and have 
learned from authentic sources* some facts which I 
fear will not be very consoling to that class of students 
who expect to become eminent because they do not 
study. The facts are these. Daniel Webster studied 
more, read more, and wrote more than any member 
of his class. He was constant at his recitations and 
always well prepared. He was so careful an observer 



* The facts and references relating to the student life of Mr. Webster 
were communicated to me by Professor Edwin D. Sanborn of Dartmouth 
College, to whose courtesy I am greatly indebted. 



22 

of order, that the President of the 'College would have 
beea suspected of lawless conduct as soon as he* 
As a debater and writer he so far excelled all others 
in his class, that no one was spoken of as second to 
him.t While his fellow students selected their pieces 
for declamation, he icrolc his. Whenever there was 
a difficult task to be performed the class laid it on 
Webster. So tenacious was his memory that he was 
known to repeat twenty pages of poetry after reading 
them carefully twice.J He wrote many fugitive pieces, 
both in prose and verse, which were published. Dur- 
ing his Junior year he tested his powers in two kinds 
of composition and speaking, in which aspirants to 
rhetorical fame, so often make trial of their strength 
of winrr; — a Fourth of Julv Oration, and a Euloijy. 
At the close of the same year he wrote a drama, 
which, accordinor to the custom of the time, when the 
buskin and the gown associated together in classic 
halls, was enacted on the stage at commencement. 
Above all he was a serious, earnest, truthful lad; dis- 
tinguished in college for the same traits which after- 
ward made him eminent as a man. When he came 
to receive his degree, so far from stamping his diploma 



* llcv. Elilm Smith, of Pomfret. Vt 

f Governor Henry Hubbunl, of Charlcstown, N H. 

+ Dr. Farrar, of Deny, N. H. 



23 

under foot, as the story runs, a man now living,* who 
stood at his side, testifies that he received it with a 
graceful bow. 

The young Bachelor of Arts now goes forth into 
the world "/o kani and lo earn.''' With habits of 
economy which necessity has formed ; with a self-re- 
liance which successful efforts have nourished; with 
a courage which no obstacles can daunt; with a per- 
severance which fears no labor ; and with a strength of 
will which is innate and indomitable, he goes forth 
" to fmd, or to make a way." 

We next find Daniel Webster Principal of the Frye- 
burg Academy, in the then District of Maine. His 
salary is $350 a year, and as much more as he can 
add to it by copying deeds at night in the Register's 
office at twenty-five cents each. With these earnings 
he is to support himself, and pay the college expenses 
of his brother Ezekiel. When his fingers ache with 
copying, he reads Blackstone till his eyes ache. He 
is usually grave and thoughtful, though sometimes 
playful and facetious. His religious training has not 
been lost, and he opens and closes his school with 
prayer. All his amusements are manly and invigo- 
rating, and taken in the open air. The companions 
of his rambles are a fishing rod and Shakspcarc. He 



• Rev. Eliliu Smith. 



24 

is the same man, in all essential qualities, that he will 
be when nations listen to his words. He is esteemed 
and beloved as a teacher; and at the end of eight 
months he leaves Fryeburg, with good testimonials of 
his skill, and with what he had not always in his later 
and more prosperous life, some money in his pocket. 

Mr. Webster's lawyer life begins in the olhce of 
Mr. Thompson of Salisbury, where Coke is placed in 
his hands " to break him in," or to break him down. 
But Webster would not be broken down; he chose 
rather to break throuirh the usual routine of office 
study, and to read law books which he could under- 
stand. 

We next meet him in Boston, in the office of Chris- 
topher Gore, who is his teacher, friend and adviser. 
Mr. Gore discovers that his student is tit for some- 
thing more than to record the doings of others, and 
saves him from becoming *' once a clerk always a 
clerk." Many a man may look back upon some such 
turning point of his life as this, when his destiny hung 
upon the decision of an hour; and many a man, 
press(>d by the res a/iirusta domi^ has sacriliced a 
brilliant future to a present necessity. If Daniel 
Webster had accepted the clerkshij) which his father 
urged upon him for the sake of the competency it 
offered, he would probably have lived a respectable 
njan, inllumtial in his neighborhood, jx'riiaps the great 



25 

man of a little village ; but it is doubtful wlictber bis 
honest neighbors would have ever suspected that the 
man was greater than his office. 

At the age of twenty-three Mr. Webster is admitted 
to the Suffolk bar. Partly from the difficulties which 
a young lawyer without influential connexions must 
encounter in commencing practice in a large city, and 
partly from a desire to be near his father in his de- 
clining age, he returns to New Hampshire and opens 
an office at Boscawcn. Having buried the father 
whom he went thither to assist and cherish, he removes 
to Portsmouth and at once enters into successful com- 
petition with the best lawyers in the State. In five 
years he has become known and has made himself 
respected. He has studied hard, and worked hard, 
for he has had to measure strength with Titans. 

But New Hampshire was becoming too small for 
him, or rather he was growing too big for New Hamp- 
shire. He has to be transplanted to a soil where his 
roots may strike deeper, and his branches spread out 
their leaves to a more genial air, and a brighter sun- 
shine. New Hampshire is a fertile grower of great 
men ; and after exporting a large surplus, she can still 
afford to give a President to the Union. As the rivers 
from her granite hills flow down to fertilize Maine, 
Massachusetts, and Connecticut; so her streams of 



26 

intellect pour forth ^vitll full tide, and spread from the 
lakes to the gulf, and from ocean to ocean. 

It ^vas essential to the development of Mr. Webster 
as a statesman, that he should establish himself where 
the party of conservatism was predominant. Massa- 
chusetts had this attraction for him, and Boston was 
ready to receive him with a cordial welcome. In the 
mean time the ties which bound him to his native 
State are sundered by the burning of his house, 
furniture and library. He removes to Boston, where 
he soon obtains a lucrative practice, and enters upon 
that branch of his profession w hich is to open to him 
his vocation as an expounder and defender of the 
Constitution. He is retained on the defence of Dart- 
mouth College ; and sixteen years after he received 
his diploma, he appears as the champion of his Alma 
Mater in the Supreme Court of the United States. 
Every lawyer in America is acquainted with this case, 
and as the rights of all our colleges and other chari- 
table corporations were suspended upon its issue, the 
trial was regarded with deep solicitude throughout the 

country. 

It was not enough for the counsel to explore the 
well-springs of English law. The old principles of 
jurisprudence relating to eleemosynary corporations, 
were to be applied to a new system of government. 
The invasion of corporate rights had been made by 



27 

the Government of a State ; and the question involved 
state rights, the authority of the Federal Judiciary, 
and the powers of the General Government under the 
Constitution. Mr. Webster put forth all his strength, 
and was triumphantly successful. The old charter of 
the Colleire was sustained. The acts of the Lesjisla- 
ture of New Hampshire were declared void, and the 
institution was restored to its former footing and pros- 
perity. 

This case established Mr. Webster's reputation as 
a constitutional lawyer, and thenceforward he was 
retained on almost every suit involving constitutional 
principles. 

No one can read his arguments in these cases, par- 
ticularly in the college case, and in Gibbons vs. Ogden, 
and Ogden vs. Saunders, without perceivino- that he is 
pluming himself for those higher flights, in which a 
broadier stretch of wing will be required to sustain 
him, in his defence of the Charter of the Union. 

The small number of Mr. Webster's forensic efforts 
which have been published, will carry with them to 
posterity abundant proof that his contemporaries did 
not over-rate his merits when they pronounced him 
the best lawyer of his time. His speeches at the trial 
of the murderers of White, and in defence of Judj^e 
Prescott, are not only master-pieces of forensic skill, 
but they contain passages of unsurpassed eloquence. 



28 

In the Girard College case he labored under the dis- 
advantage of not having the law on his side, but his 
arguuient is valuable as a defence of christian educa- 
tion, and as the testimony of a great mind in favor of 
the benefits and blessings of our holy religion. Had 
he known at the time, that the noble sentiments he 
was pronouncing, were the very sentiments which 
would animate the Trustees and Directors of the col- 
lege, he would have been spared the utterance of those 
gloomy forebodings, the greater part of which proved 
imaginary within his own life-time. 

The statesman life of Mr. Webster began with his 
election to Congress as a representative from New 
Hampshire in 1812, and terminated only at his death. 
His first movements in public affairs leaned a little 
towards sectionalism ; but he threw no impediments 
in the way of the government in its prosecution of the 
war. However strong his attachments to local inter- 
ests, patriotism prevented his indulging them at the 
expense of the honor and safety of the country. 

After six years of successful practice in Boston, 
Mr, Webster received the honor of representing in 
Conijress the focus of New EnMand Icarninir and 
talent. At the call of duty he sacrificed his private 
interests, and abandoned the prospect of wealth which 
was opening before him. Henceforth he bclonirs to 
his country, and to her service he surrenders himself 



29 

with entire devotion. During the session of 1824, he 
made his speech on the Greek question, and asserted 
substantially the same doctrines which, a quarter of a 
century later, he enforced with so much point and 
pungency in the Hulseniann letter. His words of 
sympathy for struggling freedom bore encouragement 
to the sulTering Greeks, and arc still remembered by 
the friends of liberty throughout Europe. 

To pursue, step by step, the career of Mr. Webster 
as a legislator and administrative officer beIon<Ts to 
the historian, and not to the eulogist. The limits of 
this address would be hardly sufficient to give a cata- 
logife of his labors, without any discussion of their 
merits. When we -consider the number and variety 
of the subjects which engaged his attention, we are 
amazed at the industry and breadth of mind which 
could grasp them all. Whether he spoke of currency, 
banking, revenue, the judiciary, the criminal code, 
foreign relations, internal improvements, protection 
of American industry, the removal of the deposites, 
the presidential protest, the sub-treasury, and above 
all, of Nullification and the Force Bill, Secession and 
the Compromises, he was never mastered by his sub- 
ject, but was always his subject's master. He never 
failed to throw new light on the question under dis- 
cussion, to seize its strong points, and to hold them 
up clearly to the nation. Whatever the matter in 



30 

hand, be went right to the bottom of it, brought to view 
great principles, and clothed them in bold and strong 
lansuase. They who dissented most earnestly from 
many of his opinions, admitted the ability and honesty 
of their advocate. 

Mr. Webster first took his seat in the Senate in 
1828, and in 1830 he commenced what I regard as 
pre-eminently the work of his life, — the work for 
which all that had preceded was but the preparatory 
training. This was the exposition of the Constitution, 
and the defence of the Union. 

South Carolina was dissatisfied with the protective 
tarift* of 1828, and threatened to nullify the* law. 
Murmurs of discontent, audible during the first term 
of Gen. Jackson's presidency, rose during his second 
term to a degree of violence which threatened treason 
and rebellion. The leaders of that movement were 
desirous, as a preliminary measure, to destroy the 
influence of New CnMand and her statesmen. A 
combination was formed for this purpose ; the forces 
were marshalled, and the parts assigned. Mr. Ben- 
ton commenced the assault, and Mr. Haync followed 
with bitter denunciations of New England measures 
and men. Mr. Webster replied to the latter. The 
first speeches of both were but the skirmishing of 
light troops before the charge of massive columns. 
Neither party put forth his strength. But in llayne's 



31 

second speech the tug of war commenced, and it was 
obvious that Greek was to meet Greek. Mr. Web- 
ster was not disconcerted by the dashing boldness and 
brilHancy of the cliarge. He receives the shot, and is 
prepared to return it. Next day he rises calm and 
self-possessed to reply. There is no tremor of a 
muscle, no blanching of the cheek, no quailing of the 
eye, but a kindling rather, as when the war-horse 
hears the trumpet calling to battle, and anticipates 
the strife and the triumph. Nothing is visible in his 
face or air, but the confidence of right, and conscious 
power to maintain it. He surveys the crowded as- 
semblage for a moment with that searching look, with 
which he was wont to scrutinize an audience, so pene- 
trating that every one present believed it was directed 
to himself alone. He speaks, slowly at first and with 
some slitrht hesitation, but soon rises to the full heiorht 
of his theme. The keen irony with which he dissects 
♦ the speech of his opponent, the force with which he 
exposes the injustice of the assaults upon New Eng- 
land, the running fire of raillery and eloquence with 
which he makes good his personal defence, are only 
equalled by the energy with which he pursues and 
tortures his adversary and hurls back the shafts of 
wit and sarcasm which few men could use with more 
effect than he. 



32 

The fiery and impetuous assailant had met his 
master. The granite man had triumphed. 

In rhetorical merit I think that the second reply to 
Hayne will compare favorably with the celebrated 
oration of Demosthenes on the Crown. Indeed the 
two speeches are not very unlike in their general drift. 
The prosecution instituted by .^schines against Ctesi- 
phon, was a blow aimed at Demosthenes; so the 
assault of Hayne upon New England, was intended 
to prostrate Webster. In defending his client Demos- 
thenes was obliged to enter into an exposition and 
defence of his own public life. Webster did the same 
thing. Demosthenes proved that the measures which 
^schines had charged as ruinous to the common- 
wealth, had been proposed and advocated by .Eschines 
and his friends. Webster proved that the injustice 
to the West which New England was charged with, 
would have been actually perpetrated by Southern 
votes, if New England votes had not prevented.. 
There are passages in both speeches which are not 
only equal in beauty and grandeur, but similar in con- 
ception. And finally, Demosthenes closes with a 
prayer to the gods to dispose the enemies of his coun- 
try to better purposes than i)l;inniiiL,^ her dt'strnction, 
to deliver her from impending evils, and to restore the 
blessings of tranquillity and safety. So Web.-ter, in 
a prayer more eloquent anil sublime, which almost 



33 

every American knows by heart, implores the Divine 
protection upon our Union, and deprecates dissension 
and civil strife. The arsjuments of both orators are 
equally clear and demonstrative, and the results of 
their efforts equally triumphant. But I submit that 
Webster has the advantage of the old master of elo- 
quence in maintaining the dignity of a gentleman and 
the courtesy of debate. He is also more felicitous in 
turning the weapons of his adversary against himself. 
Demosthenes indulges too freely in personal abuse, 
and his vehement denunciation and coarse invective 
bruise like a maul, while the irony of Webster, and 
his good natured but provoking raillery cut like a 
razor. 

Three years after this debate the crisis of Nullifica- 
tion came. South Carolina had reduced her peculiar 
principles to their last result ; but there was to be a war 
of giants in the Senate before the conflict of physical 
force should commence in the field. General Jackson 
had put forth his proclamation, expressing his determi- 
nation to execute the laws by the military power of 
the country, and Governor Hayne had issued a coun- 
ter proclamation answering menace with defiance. 
Mr. Wilkins had introduced the Force Bill, and Mr. 
Calhoun had offered a series of resolutions reaffirming 
the South Carolina doctrines. It was in reply to the 
speech of the latter, that Mr. Webster made what I 
3 



34 

consider the most perfect constitutional argument ever 
constructed : an ariiument Avhicli overthrows and de- 
molishes every proposition of his opponent, and de- 
monstrates, with a compact and irresistible plialanx 
of reasoning, the true theory of our government. 
Tliis speech gave the death blow to nulhfication ; for 
though it lingered awhile, it was past all medical skill. 
Seventeen years afterwards the South Carolina 
doctrine made its appearance in a new form, which 
oflered the alternative of compromise or secession. 
Mr. Webster was again in the Senate, and his course 
on these questions was watched with deep solicitudcj 
Will he, so long a national man, now become sectional? 
If he will consent to do this, he will gratify a large 
party in New England ; perhaps a majority in discreet 
and conservative Massachusetts will applaud him. 
But if he still adhere to a national course, he will be 
assailed with the bitter taunts of foes, and meet the 
averted faces of friends. Fanueil Hall will be bolted 
a^rainst him. lie will sharpen the ferocity of men 
who will raven upon his reputation before his corpse 
shall have become cold in its sepulchre. The choice 
he makes is the test of his magnanimity. It is only 
the hi"hest order of men who do not hesitate to act 
on their convictions at the cost of self-sacrifice. 
Daniel Webster had counted the cost, and was ready 
for the sacrifice. His speech of March 7th, 1S50, is 



35 

dedicated to the people of Massachusetts, with a motto 
which shows how clearly he foresaw the probable con- 
sequences of the step he was taking. " His ego gratiora 
dictu alia esse scio ; sed me vera pro gratis loqui, etsi 
meum ingeniuui non moneret, necessitas cogit. Vel- 
lem, equidem, vobis placere; sed multo malo vos 
salvos esse, qualicumque erga me animo futuri estis." 
He holds fast his integrity. He speaks " not as a 
Massachusetts man, nor as a northern man, but as 
an American, and as a member of the United States 
Senate." He believed that the welfare of many gene- 
rations hung upon the right decision of the questions 
at issue, and he spake for the preservation of the 
Union. After that speech the country breathed more 
freely, and light broke in through the gloom. The 
victim was prepared for immolation, and was soon 
led to the altar. He had tasted the bitterness of office, 
and was to pay the penalty of greatness. They who 
imputed his action to unworthy motives, and pre- 
tended that there was really no danger of secession, 
did not know that the trained eye of a maViner can 
see Axrther than a landsman. They forgot that the 
dweller upon a hill-top has a wider horizon than the 
inhabitant of a valley. They who can see only a part, 
never comprehend him who can see the whole. As 
a man of one idea cannot take the measure of him 



36 

^vho has many, so the hne of a sectional politician is 
not lonir cnouah to fathom a national statesman. 

When Mr. Webster held the post of Secretary of 
State, under Harrison and Tyler, our foreign relations 
Avere delicate and threatening. There ^vere difficulties 
crrowin(T out of the burninir of the Caroline, and the 
trial of McLeod. The Northeastern Boundary ques- 
tion, ^vhich had defied all attempts at settlement, 
^vas to be solved by diplomacy, or cut with the 
sword. There were controversies both old and new, 
respecting maritime rights. The limits of Oregon 
were in dispute. There were difficulties with Spain, 
with Mexico, and with the Indians. There was 
no quarter of the political horizon, where the clouds 
did not look angry. Mr. Webster was not the 
man to desert his post at an hour like this. The 
administration had lost the confidence of the party 
M-hich had raised it to power, and significant hints 
were thrown out to the Secretary, that he was expected 
to come away and be separate. These he silenced 
with a look and a word. When the Mayor of Boston 
suggested that he was competent to take care of his 
own honor, he replied that " he was exactly of the 
same opinion." He remained in the cabinet till the 
Ashburton Treaty, the great service of his adminis- 
trative career, was finished ; — a work which averted 
incalculable mischiefs, and entitled him to the lasting 



37 

gratitude of liis countrymen. The results of this 
negotiation proved that 

" Beneath the rule of men entirely great 
The pen is mightier than the sword." 

The State Papers which Mr. Webster left in the 
archives of the government will compare favorabl}^, in 
dignity and ability, with those of his distinguished pre- 
decessors in the office of Secretary of State. There 
are indeed some expressions in the Hulsemann letter, 
which, as a matter of taste, we may wish had been 
expunged ; and the provoking tone of the paper was 
better suited to popular sentiment at the time, than to 
tlie courtesy and reserve which usually marked the 
writer's official style. But the letter sets forth true 
American sentiments and principles with vigor and 
boldness ; and Europe, while she saw that the United 
States were practising lessons in a style of diplomacy 
in which they were hereafter to address her ancient 
monarchies, prayed that we might not indulge in an 
insolence commensurate with our power. The hint 
is worthy of consideration, for while 

" It is excellent to have a giant's strengtli, 
It is tyrannous to use it like a giant." 

Either throuizh failing health, or want of access to 
the best sources of information, Mr. Webster made a 



38 

mistake on the question of the Lobos Islancl^^, uhich 
the government has frankly admitted, and honorably 
rectified. 

With these exceptions I believe there is nothing in 
tlie diplomatic correspondence of the great Secretary, 
of which an American may not say, as they go forth 
to the world, or down to posterity, " 7, nostra decus^ 

During his active professional and public life Mr. 
Webster found time to prepare numerous addresses, 
on subjects not directly connected with law or politics. 
Among these there are five which may be regarded as 
models of patriotic eloquence, and noble specimens of 
literary art. You have all read the Address at Ply- 
mouth on Forefather's day, the Eulogy on Adams and 
Jeflferson, the Addresses at the laying of the Corner 
Stone, and on the completion of the Bunker Hill 
Monument, and the Oration last February before the 
New York Historical Society. While all of these are 
rich legacies to our national literature, it appears to 
me, though I say it with some hesitation, that the first 
is unsurpassed by any of its successors, and that the 
last is surpassed by each of the preceding. Mr. 
March observes, in his sprightly manner, that " every 
one has read the Plymouth Address who knows how 
to read and what to read." We may add thtit it will 
be read as Ion": as Plvmoufh rock shall stand, and 
the English language endure. 



39 

Mr. Webster was too constantly engaged in active 
duties to become a profound scholar, cither in general 
science, or in foreign and ancient literature. His 
favorite Latin authors were Cicero and Sallust. With 
these his mind was thoroughly imbued, and formed to 
think and speak " in the high Roman fashion." He 
was well read in the English Classics, and his style 
was disciplined to severe simplicity by intimate com- 
munion with the best of them. His knowledge of 
history was extensive and accurate, but he studied it 
rather as a practical statesman, for examples and 
illustrations, than as a philosopher. His literary style 
was characterized by perspicuity, dignity and energy. 
As a writer he sometimes reminds us of Demosthenes, 
and sometimes of Burke ; but he had less vehemence 
than the former, and less copiousness than the latter. 
In directness of purpose, clearness of statement, and 
irresistible sweep of argument, he was the equal of 
Demosthenes ; and while Burke used more rhetorical 
ornament, and abounded more in historical and classi- 
cal illustrations, Webster was his superior in simpli- 
city and force. 

]Mr. Webster was fond of poetry, a;id loved to quote 
it, both in his speeches and in conversation. It has 
been already remarked that he paid his court to the 
Muse of song in early life, and you remember that 
some verses which he loved, lingered in his memory 



40 

when all else of earth was losing its interest, and 
earth itself was recedin<'- from his view. 01" iinaiiina- 
tion he had much ; hardly less than Milton, though 
he cultivated it less; and both drew their nutriment 
of this faculty from the same sublime source — the 
Bible. Of fancy, that playful power, which Shaks- 
{)eare possessed in so eminent a degree, and which, 
like the Aurora Borealis, takes all forms and hues, 
with bewildering and fantastic inconstancy, he liad 
very little. lie never " turned to shape the forms of 
tilings unknown, nor gave to airy nothing a local 
habitation and a name." His great strength lay in 
the understandiniT, and hoklinfr imaijination subordi- 
iiate to that, lie drew upon its rich wealth with a 
sparing hand. 

In his manner of speaking, Mr. Webster was gene- 
rally calm and unimpassioned. To hearers who had 
not the power of concentrated attention, and mIio 
could not follow link by link the chain of his ar<rumcnt, 
he sometimes appeared dull. But when roused by a 
great occasion, or by an adversary worthy of his 
power, he rose to his full height, and surpassed expec- 
tation. The narrative^ part of his discourses was 
riluavs lucid and discriminatintj. It has been siiid, 
that in makin<r a statement of facts Ik^ never had a 
superior; and it is equally true that finding the divid- 
ing line between too little and too much in making a 



41 

narrative, between the circumstances that will leave 
the most distinct impression upon an audience, and 
those that will crowd and confuse the picture, is one 
of the last attainments of an orator. 

His exposition of a subject was equal to his narra- 
tion. His definitions were like newly struck coins, 
with sharp outline and bright surface. He never 
mistook the object at which he ought to aim ; nor 
w'as it possible for the listener to mistake the object 
at which he was aiming. 

In refutation he rarely used personalities ; but when 
provoked to retort, his irony was as withering as the 
red flashes of his eye. No man was ever more cour- 
teous in debate, but no man ever demolished the 
arguments of an opponent with more ponderous and 
effective blows. Nothing but Cyclopean masonry 
could resist his heavy guns. 

As he approached his argument you might see him 
delving far down beneath the surface till he came to 
the solid rock on which his structure was to rest. 
Then course after course, with massive blocks hewn 
out from the deep quarries of law and reason, he built 
up his work, every layer supported by all below it, 
and sustainins all above it, and the whole bound to- 
gether with bars of iron logic, till the grand result 
stood finished in the stern simplicity of a Doric temple. 

His perorations were beautiful, grand, or sublime, 



42 

as the subject might warrant or require. They gene- 
rally contained sentiments of lofty patriotism, and 
these were often clothed in lanfjuatre that burned 
ineffaceable marks into the memory of his hearers. 
They have been for years the common themes of 
student declamation, and as almost every educated 
American youth has personified Webster on the 
college stage, so almost every one carries with him 
into life the patriotic sentiments which these noble 
specimens of eloquence inspire. 

It . must be admitted that Mr. Webster did not 
originate any of the leading political movements of 
his time, but yet his mark is on them all ; and he 
probably did more than any of his contemporaries to 
shape public opinion on these movements, to instruct 
the national intellect, and to guide the national will. 
The man who could do this must have been a great 
statesman. Though he discovered no new principles 
of government, and opened no new path for himself 
or others to walk in, and was content with the maxims 
of political wisdom which the founders of the Republic 
had taught, yet he made new applications of the old 
formulas; lie cleared and- straightened the old paths; 
and he gave prominence and force to such of the old 
maxims as would consecrate the marriage of liberty 
with law. ^^'hilc, therefore, he was conservative, his 
conservatiFui was compatible with progress. It was 



43 

a brake to check the engine when its velocity ^vas too 
great for safety ; but not to stop it. It was not the 
conservatism of a rock which cannot be moved ; but 
the conservatism that builds upon a rock a structure 
which cannot be moved. It was the conservatism 
which makes its piers firm and strong before it springs 
an arch. 

Mr. Webster's consistency was of a piece with his 
conservatism. There is a thing called consistency, 
which is only standing still. A ship at anchor may 
ride secure, from whatever point of the compass the 
wind may blow. But to make her port she must 
weigh anchor, and trim her sails to the breeze. Never 
to change an opinion is never to grow wiser. May 
not a man consistently advocate a measure this year 
which he opposed twenty years ago? When he 
attains a hiirher level will he not have a wider view ? 
When the light increases must he shut his eyes to 
prevent seeing objects that were invisible before? 
Again, the circumstances of the countrv chansje, and 
its wants change with them. A measure may be 
beneficial to-day, which would have been mischievous 
yesterday. The only statesmanlike consistency, is 
consistency in adherence to the eternal principles of 
justice and truth ; — consistency in the ends pursued ; 
adaptability, which may sometimes approach muta- 
bility, in the means of attaining them. 



44 

Such I believe was the consistency of Mr. Webster. 
He opposed a national bank in IS 15 and IG, because 
he believed that the proposed charter contained ele- 
ments subversive of all safe bankinir, and destructive 
to the credit and usefulness of the institution. But in 
1S32 he advocated the re-charter, under a modified 
form, because the bank had, as he believed, demon- 
strated its utility as a fiscal agent of the government, 
and a regulator of domestic exchanges. He opposed 
the first TarifT for protection, because he believed that 
it would injure New England, and benefit no one. 
But in 1828, and ever after, he was the friend of 
moderate protection, because a vast capital, before 
employed in commerce, had been invested in manu- 
factures, and the interests of industry required a stable 
polic}'. Is there inconsistency here? For every 
change of opinion has he not a warrant to show? 

Many in this audience were better acquainted with 
Mr. ^V'ebster, personally, than I was. It therefore 
becomes me to speak with diffidence of his manners 
and personal qualities ; but I will venture to describe 
him as he appeared to me from my humble point of 
observation. I need not tell you that his form and 
mien were majestic and imperial. You would single 
him out among assembled thousands as a man of 
mark. If you had seen him for the first time in the 
Senate, you would have pointed to him as "the noblest 



45 

Roman of them all." His stout, massive frame, 
modeled for dignity rather than grace, yet graceful 
in its grand repose, seemed a fitting support for a 
head of prodigious size. The surgeons tell us that 
but two of earth's millions, within the memory of living 
men, had more brain than he. His large dark eyes 
were set deeply in his head, so deeply that their sockets 
seemed cavernous, an appearance which was given 
them by the remarkable prominence of his fore- 
head. His whole exterior indicated a man in whom 
intellect predominated over all other qualities ; and 
this I believe was the fact. To the friends whose 
fidelity he had proved, his attachments were strong 
and unwavering ; but he was not easily approached by 
men who could not show a sjood title to his confidence. 
He was kind to those who treated him with deference, 
and who sought his good offices. His servants, his 
farm hands, his fishermen, his neighbors, and " that 
true man, John Taylor," loved him with the devotion 
of honest and faithful hearts, and he reciprocated the 
feeling. He was loved by all who had the privilege 
of seeing and knowing him, when his armor was off; 
but he moved amonix men abroad mail clad and with 
visor down. His afiection for his own kith and kin 
w'as intense ; and thoir names are embalmed, with his, 
in the works which he has dedicated to their memory. 
The poor who sought him never went empty away. 



46 

His bounty ^vas large, sometimes excessive, and often 
indiscriminate, lie was careful of dress and etiquette, 
but careless of money. He was luxurious without 
ostentation, proud without vanity, ambitious without 
envy, generous without pretension. 

In general intercourse with society there was a 
strikin"[ contrast between j\Ir. Webster and his illus- 
trious contemporary, Mr. Clay. Webster was usually 
distant and reserved ; Clay, always cordial and sym- 
pathizing. Webster conversed brilliantly, but he re- 
quired to be drawn out. Clay would take the initiative; 
and he always selected the subject with tact, and a 
true discernment of the tastes and intelligence of his 
companions. In fashionable society at Washington, 
Webster stood in proud repose, with icy brow, like 
Mont Clanc among lesser Alps, its summit covered 
with perpetual snow. He was among them, but not 
of them. Clay, on the contrary, had the facility to 
adapt himself to every situation. He could shine as 
brilliantly in the saloon as in the Senate. Webster 
would enter the party of a Secretary or Minister, 
move slowly to one side of the room, and sit down 
silent and abstracted. After a while a few friends 
would oathcr around him, and the conversation, at 
first sluggish and cold, would gradually become in- 
structive, sometimes warm into eloquence, but seldom 
grow light and lively. Clay would address himself 



47 

to the ladies, cniraoje in their conversation or amuse- 
ment, and vie with the hghtest of them in gaiety ; 
with the liveliest, in vivacity ; and with the brightest, 
in wit. Thus Clay was always the most popular man 
in Washington society ; a distinction which Webster 
never attained and never sought. 

Similar differences between the two were observa- 
ble in their public and official intercourse with men. 
Webster made firm friends of the few, but held the 
many at a distance. He was courteous to all, but 
-cordial only to those who had the key to his heart, 
and knew how to turn it. Clay made friends of all 
who approached him. Many who voted against him 
as a politician, loved him as a man, Webster in- 
spired respect, but he was inscrutable. When you 
grasped the warm hand of Clay, you could look 
throufrh the windows of his eves riojht down into his 
heart and see it beat. Webster awed men ; Clay 
attracted them. They admired Webster ; they loved 

Clay. • 

In their treatment of great questions, the differ- 
ence between Clay and Webster was as striking as 
in their manners. It reminds us of the contrast drawn 
by a writer some years since, in a style somewhat 
exaggerated, between Canning and Brougham. Clay 
swept lightly over the surface, seized the obvious 
points, and adorned his subject with all the graces of 



48 

wit and rhetoric. Webster toiled in deep mines, 
grasped the strongest points, and addressed himself to 
the understanding rather than the sympathies of his 
hearers. Clay was the more persuasive; Webster 
the more convincing. Clay constructed his edifice of 
the materials which lay nearest at hand, and it rose 
up light, airy and graceful. Webster brought up 
froui below the everlasting granite, and made his 
structure as solid as a pyramid. In personal contro- 
versy Clay used a rapier; Webster, a broadsword. 
But both were adepts in the use of their peculiar 
weapons, and fortunate was the man who escaped 
alive from an encounter with either. 

With regard to the moral and reliirious character 
of Mr. Webster, great difference of opinion existed 
before his death, and unusual interest has been man- 
ifested since. Wlien a man has ceased to be feared, 
and stands no longer in the way of competitors, the 
lips of envy are apt to be closed, and the tongue of 
malice hushed. That Mr. Webster had faults, all 
admit; and that calunmy exaggerated them, all now 
believe. " Let him who is without sin throw the first 
stone.'' The man who is loved by his family may be 
a bad man ; but the man whom his friends and 
neighbors love more as they know him better, cannot. 

Mr. Webster's rcliizious veneration was lar^e. It 
was nurtured in his youth, and grew stronger in his 



49 

acre. He was a lover of the Bible, and his lircat mind 
yielded full assent to its trulli. How far his great 
heart was imbued with its precepts, and governed by 
them, while he was pursuing the hot and dusty path of 
ambition, I know not. How far he may have gone 
astray from the fold, in which he had taken shelter in 
earl}' manhood, I know not. I prefer to know, and 
so far as human tcstimon}" may be relied on in such 
cases, we all do know, that he returned to that fold. 
They who were most competent to judge, and had the 
best means of judging, assure us that toward the close 
of his life, he made religion a practical ^nd personal 
matter. When ill health compelled him to Axithdraw 
from the cares of office to his retreat at Marshfield. 
he gave his thoughts earnestly to preparation for the 
change which he knew could not be far distant. 

The greatness of Mr. Webster's life was only sur- 
passed by the grandeur of his death. They who 
stood around his bed during those days and hours, 
when the pall of a mii»htv sorrow was about to 
descend upon the land ; and who caught every word of 
the dying statesman, and treasured it among their 
most precious memories, have lifted the curtain from 
that scene, and permitted us to look upon its solemn 
beauty. Grateful for the favor, it is ours to gaze and 
be silent. There are scenes which are marred by des- 
cription ; there are thoughts whose utterance would be 
4 



50 

sacrilege; there arc leelings whose only appropriate 
expression is silence : and these are such. But 
while we gaze and listen, we may lift our hearts in 
gratitude to Heaven, that in this sublime death, we 
have another example of the power of the religion of 
Jesus, to subdue the greatest of minds, and to cheer 
with immortal hopes the weary denizen of earth. 

The last words of Mr. Webster, though he uttered 
them as the simple expression of a fiict, have more 
than a literal significance. His friend, Mr. George 
Ticknor, who has given the best account I have seen 
of the olorious sunset of his life, relates, among others, 
the following particulars. " He had intervals of rest 
to the last ; but on rousing from them, he showed that 
he was still intensely anxious to preserve his con- 
sciousness, and to watch for the moment and act of 
his departure, so as to comprehend it. Awaking 
from one of these slumbers, late in the night, he asked 
distinctly if he were alive, and on being assured that 
he was, and that his family were collected around his 
bed, he said, in a perfectly natural tone, as if assent- 
in(T to what had been told him. because he himself 
perceived that it was true, 'I still live.' These were 
his last coherent and intelligible words." 

And thouMi all that was mortal of Daniel Webster 
did on that night cease to live, he still lives. He lives 
in the hearts of his countrymen : he lives in tlu- mem- 



51 

ory of great and patriotic services ; he lives in many 
a recorded word of instruction to us and to our chil- 
dren; and in many a burning appeal in behalf of our 
National Union. He has left behind him lessons of 
wisdom and warning as a legacy to us, imperishable 
as his own memory ; and though he stands no longer 
at the helm, he has given us a chart for our voyage, 
and commending us to the guidance of an unerring 
Pilot, he has bidden our flag-ship of humanity sail 
safely on toward the haven of its hope. And if we 
had been permitted to follow his emancipated spirit, 
as it ascended to its Eternal Source, and became con- 
scious of the Divine Love, the pledge of its own 
immortality, mc might have heard him repeat the last 
words he spake on earth, as his first in heaven, — " I 

STILL LIVE." 



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